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Argentina seeks charges in US firm's plant closing

The Associated Press

Updated:
08/14/2014 09:24:20 PM EDT

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A worker binds magazine pages inside the R.R. Donnelley &amp; Sons printing plant, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014. The global printing company based in the U.S. shuttered its plant Monday amid tough economic times in the South American country. About 200 workers decided to keep working, despite not being paid, until union leaders, in talks with the Labor Ministry, find a solution to reverse the plant layoffs. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The government of Argentina will seek criminal charges against representatives of a U.S.-based global printing company that abruptly shuttered its plant in the South American country, the president said Thursday.

Representatives of RR Donnelley & Sons may have sought to "create fear in the population" and undermine the economy with the plant closure and that could be a possible violation of an anti-terrorism law, President Cristina Fernandez said in a speech to announce a new housing program.

It would be the first application of the anti-terrorism law that was adopted in 2011.

Fernandez said there was no legitimate economic justification for the closure and she accused the company of collaborating with foreign investors whose decade-long legal battle with the government triggered a July 30 default.

Workers at the RR Donnelley printing plant on the Buenos Aires outskirts showed up Monday to find a note informing them the facility was closed due to an "insurmountable crisis." About 400 workers lost their jobs, although about half of them are trying to keep the plant going despite getting no pay.

A spokeswoman in the company's headquarters in Chicago did not respond to messages seeking comment.